Remembering China from Taiwan

Divided Families and Bittersweet Reunions after the Chinese Civil War

Bibliographic Data

ID20004550
AuthorsMahlon Meyer (corresponding author)
Year2012
Pages234
Publication date2012-01-19
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueRemembering China from Taiwan (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherHong Kong University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5790/hongkong/9789888083862.001.0001
OpenAlexW4232245779
Open LibraryOL25371527M
ISBN9789888083862
LanguageEN
Citations received4

The book tells the story of the exodus from China of two million Nationalist loyalists, military and civilians. It depicts the choices faced by millions of families as they were forced to chose which child to send ahead to Taiwan, to safety, as they heard the artillery of the advancing communist armies and anticipated certain death. It also shows the creation of a nostalgic community across the Taiwan Strait created by those families divided by the civil war. The argument is that the mainlanders living on Taiwan saw themselves as cursed, exiled people and only found their way, a new identity when they faced a coming-together with their families on the mainland. Though many of the reunions were bittersweet, they did provide the Nationalists and their families a new sense, a reinvention of, the idea of being Chinese

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Artillery · China · Chose · Communism · Genealogy · Identity (music) · Mainland China · Nationalism · Political science · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Gender Studies · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Philippine History and Culture · 1945-1949 · 20th century · Attitudes · Civil War · Civil War, 1945-1949 · Family & Relationships · Personal narratives · politics and government · Refugees · Taiwan · War and families